


BeyondXTheXHorizon

by ColdRingOfWhiteSteel



Category: Hunter X Hunter, Supernatural
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, BAMF Castiel (Supernatural), BAMF Gabriel (Supernatural), Canon-Typical Violence, Creepy Hisoka (Hunter X Hunter), Crowley Being Crowley, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, False Identity, Feels, Gabriel (Supernatural) is Loki, Gabriel Being Gabriel, Heaven's Arena, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Hunters, I blame his parents and so does Sam, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, Loki Feels, Loki Has Issues, M/M, Nen (Hunter X Hunter), Novacs as family of assassins, Novacs as pseudo-Zoaldycks, Poor Gabriel, Poor Sam, Sam Has a Fear of Clowns, Sam is Not Amused, Separated Winchesters, Slow Burn, Training, What if Sam was raised on Whale Island, mild angst because Gabriel has trust issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 18:46:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12195570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColdRingOfWhiteSteel/pseuds/ColdRingOfWhiteSteel
Summary: In a world where government organizations such as the CIA and MI6 never existed The Hunter’s Association allows anyone holding a Hunter License to choose a specialization such as becoming Treasure Hunters, Blacklist Hunters, Music Hunters, and Gourmet Hunters among many other unlimited prospects.This is the story of Sam Winchester who grew up on an isolated island and becomes a Hunter to chase after the older brother he half-remembers from sunny laughter, the smell of fresh dirt and bleeding leaves, and bandages on scraped knees.At the vicious Hunter Exams Sam finds a friend in a man with golden eyes and a smile like a secret.





	BeyondXTheXHorizon

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: if you recognize it, I likely don't own it. All intellectual and other properties belong to their respective owners. 
> 
> Lights: optimal.  
> Cameras: expensive and working… Aaaaand action!  
> Warnings: violence, swearing, mature themes and scenes, John Winchester as sorta-Ging, Hisoka.
> 
> **I Solemnly Swear That…**

**OoOoOoOoO**

**Before:**  

Sam has never been here before. He hadn’t expected it to be so...crowded.

This place was vibrant and bruising with colours so very different from the small village he’s just left behind. The port is ripe with life: busy people rushing to and fro, and the loud voices of fishermen and peddlers as they sell their wares to the passersby.

As he steps off the ferryboat Sam couldn’t help standing there and just _gawking_ like a fresh-faced tourist at _all these people!_ A small bubble of excitement starts forming in his chest. He’s grown up on a small island about a half-day’s journey south of this busy harbour.

A sharp cry from a swooping gull brings him back to his senses. The smile huge on his face. Here, the familiar sounds of gulls and the ocean waves helps ground him and brings with it a sense of _home_ , which he has chosen to leave behind.

A strong sensation of adventurous glee and calculated wariness starts building up inside of him as Sam realizes his world is about to shift dramatically.

“You alright there, son?” asks Mr. Satotz as he ties a rope to a dock cleat with practiced ease. Sam likes Mr. Satotz – he runs the ferry from Whale Island to this boisterous city. His boat is the fastest one on their island, and he was always promising to take Sam on a trip ever since he was a wee lad, but the young man had never taken him up on his offer until today. Sam adjusts his knapsack and fishing rod over his shoulder.

“Just a bit overwhelmed, sir,” Sam was always a polite boy: Aunt Ellen had made sure of that. 

Mr. Satotz’s strange moustache wiggles with his hearty laughter at the boy’s sheepish grin. “Don’t you mind them, Sammy. Just mind your pockets and trust your senses. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders,” his smile becomes solemn, “Are you sure about this, boy? A Hunter’s License isn’t easy to get, y’know. And if you want to find your brother you'll need to become a Pro.”

Sam blinks as he looks away towards the city.

His focus was somewhere just beyond reach.

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

 

**OoOoOoOoO**

  **And Here We Are Now...  
**

“Woah,” breathes  Sam as his eyes follow the tower looming over them up higher and higher. If he squints he could maybe imagine seeing the top floor of this impossible structure. Gabriel glances at his friend before looking up as well with a fond smile.

“Yep. I admit even _I_ was impressed last time I was here. I was much smaller then, like, eight years old – “

“Eight! You came to fight in – from your description, basically a glorified gambling ring – when you were _eight_?!” Sam’s voice almost squeaked in his outrage. “What was _wrong_ with your parents?! Did they know? Why didn’t they stop you?!”

Gabriel shrugs, “Pops was the one who sent me here, told me to fight until I got to the 200th floor,” he rolls his shoulders as he continues to look up at the tower, his face unconcerned. He glances over and is surprised to see Sam’s devastated expression. “Woah. Woah. Hold the puppy waterworks! Don’t worry about it! _Hel-lo_! Yours truly is from a family of assassins, remember?! _Trained-from-birth-to-kill-a-grown-man-with-my-pinky kinda thing?_ This was actually the easiest part of my training!”

If anything the puppy dog eyes got even sadder and Gabriel felt himself starting to panic. “Like, really! I deliberately stayed here as long as I could since it was much more fun! I stretched it out to a full two years before I reached the 200th floor! So relax!”

“…Two… _years_?!” Sam’s voice chokes on those words and Gabriel watches as Sam visibly tries to take control of himself.  “Yeah. Okay. So you’re telling me that you spent _two whole years_ of your early childhood here _fighting for money_?!”

“What else would I be fighting for?” Gabriel is honestly confused. Sam’s question sounded rhetorical anyways…? They look at each other for a moment – Sam oscillating between sad and furious and since Gabriel had no idea what to do he just returns the look with as much pacification as he could put into his eyes.

Finally, Sam looks away to glare at the tower as if it was Gabriel’s parents. “I’m going to punch your dad in the face if I ever meet him.” He switches his glare to his friend when he hears a snort. “I’m serious, Loki. That – that’s just _wrong_. That’s child abuse!”

Gabriel waves his hand lazily like he’s wafting away Sam’s outrage. “Alrighty then, Mr. Righteous Indignation, right this way. Once we register we can rack in some serious dough for our travels.” He makes good on his words and casually saunters through the automatic double doors and trusts that his new friend will follow him. Or rather, his first friend. Yeah… His family had issues. A full 26 years old and still screwed up.  Ay, caramba. Or whatever.

To his relief Sam does follow him in, still looking unhappy. As they fill out their registration forms Sam asks, “Why do we need to earn money here anyways? Now that we’ve finished the Hunter Exam our Licenses give us ridiculous discounts on, like, _everything_. We could just earn money as we go.”

“Everything?”

Sam rolls his eyes, “Dude. You didn’t even listen during the orientation. Did you?” He looks over just in time to see Gabriel sign his last sheet with a flourish.

Gabriel’s grin is bright and unrepentant as he sits back and waits for Sam to finish his own paperwork. “But that’s what I’ve got you for, Sam-a-lamb!” _Hey! That eyeroll was so hard it sounded painful!_

“Anyways. Yeah. Ridiculous. We’re talking 80% discounts on any motels and hotels in nine out of ten countries in the whole known world! Free public transport in any city on the map, and more! That’s crazy! I totally get why Ms. Charlie said millions of people try to take the Hunter Exams every year. These things are outrageous!” He takes another moment to go over his form one more time before signing it and neatly stacking his papers.

“…Ms. Charlie?” The look Sam gives him is two-parts exasperated, two-parts fond, and one-part resigned to his fate. Gabriel tips his chair back on its hind legs and balances his pen on his nose in retaliation.

And Gabriel is _definitely_ not pouting.

“One of the examiners? The one that made us run for over 8 hours through a friggin’ murder forest? The First Exam that _killed_ or disqualified over half the applicants? _That_ examiner?”

Gabriel brightens and snaps his fingers dramatically like an epiphany. “Ah! Ms. Motor-Mouth! That one was great! It was _so_ easy!” He frowns, “Actually, not so great. I was kinda disappointed, actually. Like, seriously. It was just running and tracking. I thought the deadly Hunter Exams were gonna be harder. The other four exams were better. But the first one? _Total_. _Letdown_.”

He regrets looking over at Sam in that moment for two reasons. One: because Sam’s giving him That Look. And, more importantly, numero dos: the pen fell off his nose and he had to ground all four legs of his chair to retrieve it.

“… _Murder_. _Forest_ ,” Sam stresses like it was important.

“Yeah yeah. Murder schmurder. _Hello~_! _Assassin_!” He waves dramatically at his face. “Oh, and we’re here because you said you wanted to train and here we can train _and_ earn a small fortune as we go. So, make up your mind, Buttercup. What’s it going to be?” Gabriel deliberately relaxes his face to make this question seem superfluous, but the truth of the matter was that he really wanted Sam to get stronger. Much stronger. And here at the arena was probably the least lethal way to do so.

When Sam takes a deep breath and lets it out like an acceptance Gabriel wastes no time in grabbing Sam’s papers and handing both sets over to the young man at registry. _Why…Hello there, cutie!_ He ignores Sam’s headshake of fond exasperation.

“Congratulations, gentlemen,” says the young clerk as he stamps the papers and gives them each a numbered badge. Sam immediately pins his to his collar. 1333. “Welcome to Heaven’s Arena.”

 

**OoOoOoOoO**

**“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Heaven’s Arena preliminary battles! This battle on the first floor will gauge your skill level. If you prove yourself worthy here the referee – after a careful assessment of your abilities – will send you to the right floor to challenge you!”** The face of a young woman in the pink (“taupe”, insisted Sam)-colored H.A. uniform was flourishing energetically on the jumbotron in the arena. From where they were sitting as they awaited their turns Sam and Gabriel could just make out her tiny form in the upper control room.

**“Contestants! Should you win here you will get the opportunity to move up the floors and with each win you have the opportunity to earn thousands if not millions of _jenni_ per round! Now, will our first contestants step forth!”  **

There were two battles happening simultaneously in the arena – and looking around at the sparse few spectators they were sitting with, Sam could see why. _Guess no one wants to watch the newbies_.

“Over there,” Gabriel whispers to him and subtly flicks his chin at a man sitting closer to ground level. Looking at him, Sam notices how intensely he is scrutinizing the two fights. Compared to everyone else who was either a gawky new spectator or an impatient new competitor this one man’s razor focus was almost awkward to witness.

“Is he…? Is he assessing us?” When Gabriel beams at him proudly Sam feels a warmth in his chest.

“I knew that huge brain would figure it out! Yep,” he turns back to the matches, “The old man is trying to determine if there are any promising newbs to bet his money on. A dark horse among us dirty scrubs, – ” he turns back to Sam with a dramatic flair, “ – a diamond in the rough, a pearl among swine, a  jewel – .”

“Yeah. Okay, you big ham. Stop butchering idioms,” laughs Sam, “I get it. So what exactly am I supposed to do? We’re not allowed to use weapons the first 199 floors, right?” He touches one of his sleeves to draw Gabriel’s attention to one of the knives Sam has on his person.

“You’re a big, full-grown sasquatch of ungodly height. I’m sure you can manage without your toothpicks,” despite Gabriel’s confidence Sam didn’t seem consoled in the least, “Look, none of these clowns have been through what we have. None of them have the most expensive piece of shiny plastic you and I earned during that exam. “

“Expensive?”

“We risked our lives for those Licenses. And many others actually did bite it. So yeah, expensive.”

“What happened to ‘murder schmurder’?”

“I’m trying to be encouraging here, Sammy, work with me,” he notices Sam make a face and assumes he still needs more _encouragement_.

**“Sam Winchester, please report to the first floor arena! Sam Winchester, report to the first floor arena!”**

“Looks like you’re up,” he turns to Sam and smiles, “Remember that boulder you pushed off of Cassie? Just. Push.” He shoves up into his stadium seat so Sam can sidle past him to get to the steps, “Go get’em, tiger. _Knock ‘em flat_!”

Sam’s opponent was as wide as Sam was tall. Meaning a mountain of muscle and lard. He takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out as their referee repeats the rules to them.

_Just. Push._

Sam recalls the weird feeling that had overcome him that day. It was during the Fourth Exam when his new friend Castiel Novak had been attacked by a madman calling himself a “magician”. Higher up the mountain another examinee had triggered an avalanche in the hopes of thinning out her competition.

_Just. Push._

As they’d fled from the madman they’d gotten caught in the slide and been trapped under a tonne of snow. When Sam had oriented himself enough to dig his way back up he’d found Cas under a piece of the mountain that had come down with the snow.

There was so much blood.

_Just. Push._

His right arm had been crushed. Sam remembered the panic that had overtaken him. He had then spent most of the Fourth Exam hunting down the examiner so they could rush Cas to an Association Hospital.  _He’ll never use that arm again_.

 _-never_ _...again._

Cas’d lost a lot of blood and was running a fever. 

_Just._

_Push._

Cas, in his bleeding state had had to drowsily forfeit his examinee status in order for them to help him. Remembering that now, Sam clenches his fists in anger.

_Just...!_

“… And fight!” declares the referee.

With a roar Sam reaches out towards his opponent with both hands and _pushes_. His competition is sent flying out of the ring and into the wall. Sam blinks and the moment is gone. His eyes widen as he watches his opponent slide down the far wall unconscious. He’s still in a surprised haze as the referee declares him winner and hands him a ticket.

“ – you can proceed straight to the 50th floor from here, Mr. Winchester.” Sam startles and hastily accepts the ticket with a quick ‘thanks’.  He heads back up to the seats where Loki throws him an energetic thumbs-up.

“That – a – boy! Just like that! High five! We’ll be raking in all those _jenni_ real soon!” Gabriel crows.

**“Loki Zoaldyck, please report to the first floor arena! Loki Zoaldyck, report to the first floor arena!”**

Gabriel ends his fight in one move as well. The referee checks his Gajett TM for the results, “Ah, Mr. Zoaldyck, I see that you’ve been here before under another name,” he doesn’t notice Gabriel’s eyes narrow as he’s still reading the screen on his Gajett, “You made it to the 200th floor last time so you can skip ahead to the 100th floor now if you like?”

“No, that’s okay. Send me to the 50th floor,” he looks up to where Sam is cheering for him, “I’m going to take it easy this time. Oh, and please don’t mention my old name. Bad break-up.  Bad memories. Y’know how it is. My name’s been officially changed _back_ to Loki Zoaldyck now, so you guys should use that.”

“Understood, Mr. Zoaldyck. I hope you enjoy your stay at Heaven’s Arena. Here’s your ticket to the 50th floor.” Gabriel thanks the ref, plasters a grin on his face, and swaggers back up to where Sam’s waiting for him.

 

**OoOoOoOoO**

 

 “Woah.” Sam seems to be using that word a lot today. This time he’s admiring the room he’s been given. It was huge! It looked almost as big as Uncle Bobby’s workshop!

“When you’re done admiring the view we should head to the 50th floor’s registry desk for our photoshoot,” he jumps onto Sam’s bed and stretches out on his back, “Oh, and probably sign up for our next match while we’re still fresh.”

“Photoshoot? What photoshoot?” _Sam’s so cute when he furrows his brows like that_. _Bad Gabby, no cheek pinching!_

“Not like, Runway, honey. Just so they can project our faces on the big screen for people to place their bets on,” he breaks open a chocolate bar and goes to town. “I do hope you brought your best shirt, Munchkin,” he winks at Sam who looks upside-down from where’s he’s lying.

“I don’t know if I can do that again, Lokes,” says Sam dejectedly as he sits down next to Gabriel’s head, “You’d mentioned Cas and I was thinking about what had happened and I just got so – _angry_. I don’t know if I can keep summoning that anger to, well, _super-push_ someone into a friggin’ wall!”

Witnessing his friend, literally, in a slump the ex-Assassin sits up and moves to kneel next to him on the bed. Feeling a bit awkward he mimics a move he’d seen on TV and pulls Sam into a sideways hug. The geometry of it all was a bit weird since Sam’s frame was considerably taller and larger than Gabriel’s smaller figure. The alien-ness of the sensation lifts when he feels Sam relax and clutch onto his arm. “Hey now, don’t you give up on me, Charlie. When we met at the Exams weren’t you the one who told me he had some big dream he wanted to catch? Some big brother he wanted to find?” He feels Sam nod against his chest.

“Well, why don’t you tell me about him? Your brother? Beano or something like that?” Sam’s startled laugh brings a smile to Gabriel’s face that he doesn’t notice, but it does encourage him to keep going so he blurts out, “Hey, you were talking about _my_ family’s parenting skills. What about yours? Who names their kid Beano? Like, is that even _allowed_? That’s inhumane, just imagine all the nicknames he must have had as a kid. And all the fart jokes! I’m all about the fart jokes, Sammy-ba-bammy. That’s classy material right there!” By this point Sam’s full out – dare he say it – _giggling_ and Gabriel awards himself a brownie point. “Hey, no dissing the class. I’m all about that class. I’m the classiest motherfucker this side of the Andrean Sea, Sammy!”

“He used to call me that,” Sam mutters into Gabriel’s arm. _He speaks! Another brownie point to Gabby!_

“What, ‘Sammy’? ‘Sammy-ba-bammy’? ‘Andrean Sea’? That last one’s a bit rude. Cuz you’re big boy-o, but not that big.”

“Shut up, jerk.”

“Make me, Andrean Sea.” By this point Sam’s pulling away from the hug and Gabriel allows it since they’re both grinning like loons. “Seriously, ‘Beano’?”

Sam huffs another breath of laughter, “His name’s _Dean_. And he used to call me ‘Sammy’. He used-to a lot of things, actually,” Sam falls backwards onto the bed and Gabriel flops down beside him at an angle so their heads are close together as they look up at the ceiling. Not wanting to push his friend Gabriel just closes his eyes and allows himself to appear relaxed. He’s not sure how long passes – okay, yes he does:  two minutes and thirty-seven seconds – but the former’s more poetic and he’s not telling Sam-a-lamb he was counting.

“Dean – he… He left the island with dad before I was even born. My Uncle Bobby says dad just showed up on his doorstep one day with me wrapped up in some baby blankets and dropped me off on Whale Island like a milk delivery. Barely stayed for a beer before heading off to whatever wild adventure he was having and taking Dean with him.”

Gabriel heard and felt the bed shift as Sam took a deep breath. He could also swear he heard these words as if they were coming from this Uncle Bobby. It was obvious that Sam was repeating words said to him a long time ago with all the inflections and over-exaggerated hand-waving of something remembered.

“Dean came back sometimes. Not for long. I don’t remember dad, but I remember that Dean was there when I was little.” Sam could half-remember laughter, the smell of fresh dirt and bleeding leaves, and dappled sunlight through young fingers. There was the silhouette of a boy much bigger than himself and fun. So much fun.

Dean had taught him how to fish – Sam remembered making his first fishing pole from a long stick – ‘bendy’, Dean had said, it needed to be bendy or it could snap and nail him right between the eyes, he’d said, as he’d flicked Sam on the forehead in demonstration.

He told all of this to Gabriel and more. He told him about hiding from Uncle Bobby when they’d broken some of the spare car parts in his garage. A bandage on his knees and a kiss to make it better on his hands when he’d scraped them. And clinging to Dean’s legs to keep his big brother from leaving again when he was still small enough to get away with it.

“And this one time at dinner Dean was showing off because jerk’d learned how to bake an apple pie and he was so darn proud to bring it out at dessert time. He refused – absolutely _refused_ \- to let Uncle Bobby help him and he almost tripped and dropped the darn thing! There wasn’t even anything to trip on! And apparently he’d forgotten to put the ice-cream in the freezer so there was this melted vanilla gloop that we kinda just spooned onto the pie. It was delicious, Lokes, lemme tell you and he’d even done this weird crisscross on the crust to make it all cool, but, aw man, what a huge dork!” He wipes a tear from his eye, “My big brother’s such a dork,” he repeats with a grin.

“Sure sounds like it, Sam-a-lamb,” Gabriel’s also grinning. How could he not? Sam’s joy was infectious.

“But y’know what?”

“What?” Gabriel intones dutifully.

“He was – it was – it was all just so much _fun_! Like, everyone on the island was nice and all, but there wasn’t really anyone my age to play with and it was always – I really wanted him to stay,” he takes a deep breath. “I wanted my brother to stay, Loki. I really, _really_ wanted him to stay – but he was a Hunter – an actual Professional Hunter! With an actual License. He showed it to me once. It looked so official and cool and I – he…He stopped coming. I was twelve at the time when I realized he just wasn’t  coming back,” Another deep breath, “So I’m going to find him. I’m going to find him, Loki, and now I can! Eleven years later and here I am! I’m a Hunter now,” then quieter, like a revelation, “I’m a Hunter… but first I need to get stronger. I’m going to become a Pro-Hunter and I’m going to hunt him down!” Gabriel waits a moment to see if Sam has anything more to say.

“Well. That sounds like a plan, Sam-my-man! Mind if I tag along?”

“Yeah! Of course.”

“Well then, first thing we’ve gotta do is get you stronger. Once we’re both Pro-Hunters then we can specialize and become Dean-Hunters or something. I don’t really have any plans, just wanted to get away from the fam. Become independent. They’re all cray-cray as I’m sure you’ve extrapolated.”

“What about you? Got any siblings?”

“I’ve got a platoon of older brothers, one older sister, and one little brother. It’s a zoo,” he brushes it off, “Six of us altogether. Not much to say. I got along best with my sister – and baby bro wasn’t too bad either, but man were Micha and Lulu just the worst. Y’know…I could become a Blacklist Hunter and take down my family. It’s not like we haven’t all been blacklisted in most countries. Bet I could make a good fortune from that! Say, Sammy, do you think I could collect my own reward if I turn myself in? What do ya think?”

“I think I’m gonna wash my face and grab a clean shirt for the picture, then we’re going to finish a few more fights,” Sam puts actions to words and does just that.

“My room’s a couple doors down, meet you at the desk in five?”

“Ten.”

“Wow, lookie who has to put on his makeup and curl his lashes!” Gabriel bats his own lashes at Sam before ducking out the door just as a pillow smashes into where his face had been – slamming the door closed with a definitive ‘clack’.

 

**OoOoOoOoO**

 

**...I Am Up to No Good.~**


End file.
